


Sing for the coming of the longest night

by Shriyazizim



Category: An Ember in the Ashes - Sabaa Tahir
Genre: F/M, Fix-It, avitas lives, helene actually uses her magic, how this book should have ended, non Canon, spoilers for sky beyond storm, what are tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:35:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27914632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shriyazizim/pseuds/Shriyazizim
Summary: Sticking to the rules has left Helene Aquilla with a string of broken oaths. She's not going to put up with that anymore.
Relationships: Helene Aquilla/Avitas Harper
Comments: 5
Kudos: 24





	Sing for the coming of the longest night

**Author's Note:**

> Listen I found the end of A sky Beyond Storm very unsatisfying, Helene should have been able to kill Keris, use her magic to revive Harper, and he should have replaced Elias. Also, Haper wasn't even a proper character here and it breaks my heart. Anyway, if this gets any attention I might write out that ending.

My scream ends, my throat and lungs permanently scarred by what it cost me.

Despite it, Aevitas Harper still lies dead in front of me. I can’t think past this moment, can’t envision what future might exist without him in it.  
I lower my head so our foreheads are touching. I feel so light, I can’t recall any of the weight this gesture used to require. Loose strands of my hair frame his blood-streaked face.  
I’m reminded of a night we were so close. He had already fallen asleep but I was awake, consumed by the wonder of it all. That I had something this good to lose. It’s what made me say in the dark, my words a burning torch, “Avitas Harper I will see you through this way, by blood and bone.”  
I whisper it back to him now but there’s no change in his face, none of the expressions I’ve memorised so keenly.

Another broken promise, I think, cradling his head in my hand, another person I’ve failed. He feels so light, so cold.

Unbidden, memories of him come to my mind. His hands running through my hair, that mixture of worry and relief every time he looked at me. The joy he brought me in the worst times I’d known, the smile he coaxed from me when I thought I could never do that anymore.   
Avitas holding me and handing me a bat when I failed Livy. Avitas forcing me to vow to Zacharius. 

“Blood and bone,” I say. Again now, my voice returns to me as I realise I cannot bear another broken oath.

As I did once before, I sing for him. So much of him is still here. In Elias, who he barely got to know and in any little family scattered around this world. In Dex, in Laia, in those who were his friend. In those, he injured, in those he hurt, even in those who hate him. The good, the bad, the easy parts to love and the parts it hurts to see. I put all of it into song. And, of course, there is so much of him in me, wound tighter than a duet. He’s taken so much of me with him that when I sing it is both our voices joining in harmony.   
There is so much I don’t know yet, that I never got the chance to ask, that only he can answer. How was your childhood Avitas? Did you have friends? When did you realise you loved me? What did you want to do tomorrow, next year, the rest of our lives?  
Do you want to go dancing? 

I put all of it into my song, the known, the unknown, the beautiful, the discordant and it comes alive. I am the song now and if it ends, so will I. And it cannot be stopped it cannot-

“Shrike?”

The voice is weak, hoarse, but I recognize it better than my own. Avitas Harper looks at me, his expression a familiar combination of worry and relief.  
I’ve stopped singing but the song will continue without me. Perhaps it still needs me to exist but it is whole and ever-growing.   
“Helene,” I say, the words barely making it past my tears as his warm, heavy fingers trace my cheek. “For you, it’s always Helene.”

**Author's Note:**

> Anyway if you want to talk about Helvias hit me up on Instagram @shriyaaarghart, or @helene-aquillla on tumblr.


End file.
